Making coffee is a time consuming and work intensive operation. The typical coffee drinker uses a brew basket type coffee machine that requires the following process steps. The coffee pot must be rinsed and filled with clean water, the grounds used to brew the previous pot of coffee must be removed from the basket and the brew basket rinsed. Then a new filter is placed in the basket and grounds are measured and placed in the filter. This, of course, assumes that the consumer buys pre-ground coffee rather than grinding their own beans. The grounds that inevitably spill onto the counter top must be cleaned, and then the water is poured into the brewer's reservoir. The machine is turned on, and then the consumer waits. And waits. And then waits some more while the pot brews.
Often this lengthy and laborious process is carried out when the consumer wants only a single cup of coffee. Moreover, at the end of the brewing process the consumer has black coffee. Cream and sugar must be measured and added if that is how the consumer drinks their coffee.
There are options available for coffee drinkers that address the problems associated with coffee brewing, but with marginal success. For example, a single cup of coffee can be brewed with a standard brew basket brewer. But because these machines are designed for 4, 8, 10 or more cups, brewing one cup is sub-optimal and often results in wasting grounds and problems with strength control. Moreover, all of the process steps described above must be followed whether making one cup or ten. Espresso machines are another option for preparing single cup servings of a coffee like beverage. But the cleaning and filling of and espresso machine's brewing cartridge can be time consuming and messy. Espresso grounds are quite fine and need to be tightly packed. Because of the tight packing and because espresso machines brew with steam, the grounds are often difficult to remove from the cartridge when they are wet. Moreover, espresso is a concentrated form of coffee that is too strong for the tastes of many consumers, and espresso grounds are often more expensive than regular grounds. The addition of frothy cream to an espresso beverage involves a separate steam line and a separate pot of milk or cream and more work for the consumer preparing the froth and cleaning up afterwards. At the end of it all, the consumer has a delicious espresso beverage, but only after the expenditure of considerable time, energy and cost.
Finally, there is the option of visiting the local coffee house. These establishments—in general—provide an excellent cup of coffee, espresso, latte, etc., without any work on behalf of the consumer. But there is still a great deal of work that goes into the production of these beverages, and that work is included in the price. Moreover, visiting the local coffee house necessarily involves leaving your home or office or wherever it is that you wish to drink your beverage, and going somewhere else to get a cup of coffee. Currently, there are no options that allow the consumer to reduce the number of steps necessary to brew a single cup of coffee with a frothy, creamy head, do it at home or at work, and do it at a cost similar to the cost of brewing coffee at home.
Pre-dosed packets of coffee grounds in filter pods are available to simplify the coffee brewing process. But these packets are typically designed for the multi-cup brew basket coffee brewers. Thus, they are not amenable to single cup brewing. Recently, however, single cup brew pods have been introduced with a special single cup brewing machine. While these machines and their pods eliminate some of the work and mess associated with brewing a single cup of coffee, they still brew black coffee only. Thus, at best, these new machines solve only half of the problems.
Attempts have been made to supply filter pods containing sweetener and creamer ingredients. Unfortunately, these attempts have largely failed due to the difference in the type of ingredients. More specifically, coffee is brewed through a standard extraction process. Hot water, steam or both are fed onto the grounds and the coffee is extracted. Coffee flows through the filter medium leaving the spent, wet grounds behind. In general, neither the coffee nor the grounds clog the filter media.
The coffee extraction process stands in sharp contrast to the process of fluidizing a solid, granular or concentrated liquid dispersible material. Liquid dispersible materials typically include fats, oils, proteins and combinations of these ingredients that are either not water soluble or not readily soluble in water. Often this fluidization process is described as “dissolving” the creamer, but this is a misnomer because many of the creamer ingredients do not dissolve in water but are instead suspended or emulsified in water. Regardless, the presence of insoluble, or slightly soluble ingredients presents a substantial problem when trying to deliver liquid dispersible materials in a pre-dosed, self-contained filter pod.
FIG. 11 illustrates the problem associated with prior attempts to make a creamer extraction pod 130. Specifically, as liquid 14 is showered down from the top—as is the case in substantially all coffee makers—through filter 122, the liquid dispersible material, illustrated as liquid dispersable material 18, is forced downward forming a packed layer 19 on bottom filter 23. Packed layer 19 clogs bottom filter 23 restricting the flow of liquid 14. Eventually, channels 21 begin to form as cracks in packed layer 19, allowing extracted liquid 115 to escape extraction pod 130. The problem is that packed layer 19 contains a substantial quantity of virgin or unextracted liquid dispersible material 18. And because extracted liquid 115 escapes through channels 21, it does not make sufficient contact with the liquid dispersible material 18 and the concentration of dispersible materials in extracted liquid 115 is likely to be well below the desired level. Moreover, channels 21 can form in a variety of places and directions. Thus, extracted liquid 115 can be forced out of the sides or top of extraction pod 130 causing additional problems, not to mention generally making a mess of the inside of the coffee brewer. Ultimately, extraction pod 130 does not work when it is filled with materials that are slightly soluble, or are water insoluble.
As such, there exists a need for a liquid infusion pod that overcomes the problems discussed above. It should be pre-dosed and self-contained to provide the consumer with a quick and convenient way to prepare a hot infusion beverage. The spent pod should be easily removed and disposed of leaving minimal mess in the beverage making machine. The material in the pod should be substantially used, that is, the spent pod should be mostly empty when disposed of. Finally, the infusion pod should be designed so that the filter does not clog. These and many other problems are solved by the infusion pods of the present invention.